Fire restrictions remain in many national forests in AZ

The U.S. Forest Service said campfire and smoking restrictions will remain in effect for national forests in central and northern Arizona, despite a weekend of rain and snow in many areas.

The precipitation will do little to combat the warm, dry and windy conditions forecast for this coming weekend, which is expected to dry out forest fuels and return the areas to high fire danger, forest officials said.

The affected national forests are Coconino, Kaibab, Prescott, Tonto and Apache Sitgreaves.

Fires, campfires, charcoal, coal and wood stoves are allowed in developed campgrounds only.

The restrictions also limit smoking to within enclosed vehicles or buildings or in developed campgrounds. On the Kaibab National Forest, restrictions apply only to the Williams and Tusayan Ranger districts, and on the Prescott National Forest, campfires are not allowed at designated dispersed sites within Prescott Basin.

"The storms that passed through over the weekend may have given us a slight reprieve, but we only expect their effects to last a few days," said Don Muise, fire and aviation staff officer for the Coconino National Forest. "It is important that we remain in fire restrictions because we expect conditions to very quickly return to where they have been. The precipitation we received was not sufficient to change the overall outlook for this fire season."